Hard water proves hard on your wallet
Hard water, which contains high levels of calcium and magnesium, can be found in nearly 90 percent of North American homes. These minerals cause scaling, a build-up that clogs waterlines and plumbing forcing appliances to work harder and operate less efficiently. The scale may also harbour bacteria. The only way to truly remove the hard and soft scale from household water systems is by installing saltbased water softeners.
The environmental and cost benefits of salt-based water softening are significant. Hard water scaling can cause your showerhead to lose up to 75 per cent of its flow rate in just 18 months. Hard water also interacts negatively with soap, reducing its cleaning power. Soft water is up to 12 times more effective at cleaning dishes than increasing the amount of detergent used.
According to the Water Quality Research Foundation for washing machines, the most important factor in removing stains from clothing was water softness. Reduction of water hardness was up to 100 times more effective at stain removal than increasing the detergent dose or washing with hotter water. In fact, soft water can reduce soap use by as much as half. Hard water can also reduce the efficiency of water heaters and increase electricity costs by as much as 48 percent, according to the Battelle Memorial Institute.
Hard water scaling doesn’t just harm your appliances and wallet, it can harm your health as well. The piping used in home plumbing, whether it is copper or PVC, has very smooth interior surfaces that don’t permit bacteria to settle and grow. How- ever, hard water results in scale formation on the interior surfaces of those pipes and that provides a perfect home for bacteria.
Researchers at the School of Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University found bacteria may grow in pipes filled with both hard scale and soft scale at the same rate. This is important new information because some forms of water conditioning produce this soft scale. The only solution is to remove both hard and soft scale in the pipes with a salt-based water softener.
A salt-based water softener is the most functional and cost-effective means of removing hardness min- erals. It is a time-tested,y highly reliable tool to improve health and to low-y er maintenance costs for home appliances like dishwashers and washing machine. It also reduces the need for detergents and high-water temperatures, leading to a smaller household carbon footprint.